Well, calling what we were doing carrying out a mission might be taking things too far. Because the Akatsuki was a pretty loose organization.
While it had its rules, it didn't require its mbers to follow them all the ti. Nagato mostly loosely ordered everyone to do whatever they thought might advance the overall goal.
That ca down mainly to gathering information and raising funding.
Orochimaru and Sasori each had their own intelligence network, and they mostly handled it, which led the remaining teams to collect funds.
Given that I was partnered up with Kakuzu, we naturally were part of the money-gathering team, and while we could spend a little ti in A between missions, Nagato was clearly eager to have us do sothing to further his plan.
And while I could easily have had Zetsu make an excuse, it wasn't just Nagato that wanted to get out and work.
Kakuzu was even more eager to start making so money. He was a man who lived for the bounties he collected, and while he might not be able to keep them all, the cut he got to keep was more than enough to satisfy him.
So he had been pestering for days to get back out.
But the only real missions we could be given were either a recruitnt mission, or capturing a Tailed Beast, neither of which was sothing common.
Few people t the standard of joining the Akatsuki, and capturing the jinchūriki was still years away.
So for now, it was just what Kakuzu wanted: bounty hunting. And it didn't take him long to find a good one. A man with a bounty of fifty million ryō. More than enough to satisfy Kakuzu's greed. Though the pain was clear in his eyes when he calculated how little would remain after the Akatsuki took their share.
"A rogue Kiri ninjutsu specialist with a high bounty, what's not to like," Kakuzu grunted as he looked at the poster. "He is wanted alive or dead, so he is our target."
"I have no issue with that," I said, my tone indifferent. "A little fieldwork will be good for Karin. She needs to see what real combat is like."
"Real combat?" Kakuzu scoffed. "This is just a bounty hunt. A simple job. You are sending her to her death."
I shook my head. "She is stronger than you think. And even if she isn't, I will be there to protect her."
"That's right," Karin said proudly. "I was the best in the colosseum. I have beaten even jōnin," she boasted.
"Hardly impressive," Kakuzu said, his voice dripping with disdain. "Those weaklings fighting in there are hardly worthy of such a title," he told her.
"Let's get going," I said, deciding to cut their argunt short. We had a long way to go, and I didn't want to waste any more ti.
I knew he was right, but I didn't want to dash Karin's hopes and dreams right now, far better to let her see the truth with her own eyes once we reached our target.
"Just don't slow down." Kakuzu grumbled as he set off.
We left Agakure without any fanfare, the three of us vanishing into the perpetual downpour. Kakuzu set a brutal pace, a ground-devouring lope that ate up the miles. Karin, for all her confidence, struggled to keep up, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Yet, despite the struggle, her Uzumaki physique and stamina allowed her to push on.
Yes, it wasn't easy, but she could manage it, and it was good training, so I didn't ask Kakuzu to slow down but instead just kept pace with him.
Our feet barely touched the ground as we went along, and when available, we jumped high above the ground within the great trees that dotted the land, jumping from one branch to another, dodging trees and branches as we moved with the speed of a bullet.
The world blurred into a green and brown sar, the wind whistling past our ears. For days, we traveled like this, stopping only for brief rests to eat and sleep.
Kakuzu never spoke, his silence a constant, oppressive presence. He was a creature of pure purpose, and right now, that purpose was the bounty. He had no interest in conversation, no desire for companionship. He was a predator on the hunt, and we were rely... tools.
It was a stark contrast to how I usually traveled, but I decided to teach Karin how real shinobi operated, not our usual way of traveling, stopping for lunch, finding a restaurant for dinner, and an inn or hotel for sleep.
No, this was purely shinobi business, it was brutal, it was exhausting, and it was a good lesson for Karin.
She might not like it, but it would help her grow.
After almost a week of this, Kakuzu finally slowed down, his senses on high alert. "We're close," he said, his voice a low growl. "His trail is fresh. He's in the next town."
The town was a dusty, forgotten speck on the map, a collection of dilapidated buildings and weary faces. It was the kind of place where people went to disappear, a perfect hiding spot for a rogue ninja.
"He's probably in the local tavern," Kakuzu said, his eyes scanning the street. "It's always the tavern."
"Karin, what do you think?" I asked, deciding that this was a good place to start teaching her a bit more about how to be a shinobi.
And for a shinobi, information was king, to find it and to analyze it. Not all information could be gotten with your fist, or by torturing soone; sotis, a few well-placed words, a few pieces of silver, could get you far more than you would expect.
Karin looked around, her brow furrowed in concentration. She closed her eyes, focusing her mind, her unique sensory abilities extending out like invisible tendrils. "There's a lot of people," she said, her voice a little strained. "But... there's one person who feels... different. Stronger. He's... he's in that big building over there," she said, pointing towards a large, two-story building with a faded sign that read The Salty Siren.
"Good," I said, a small, proud smile on my face. She was learning. "Now, how about you focus on them, try to figure out if they are just stronger, or strong enough to be our target?" I pushed her.
"Oh, for kami's sake, don't waste my ti with that trash, I'm going to get my money," Kakuzu quickly said after realizing that I wouldn't be telling him where the target was, cursing in his mind that I was useless and nothing more than a burden.
And he wasn't wrong. With my Byakugan, I knew where the target was, had known even before we entered the village, but where was the fun in that?
"Just ignore him, Karin, focus on your objective," I told her.
And to her credit, she did just that. She took a deep breath, her brow furrowed in concentration. "He's... he's the person with the most chakra here outside you and Kakuzu-san, but... he doesn't have a lot, not even as much as Chino," she said, after a few monts, though she was still a bit uncertain.
That was good, it was clear that while she could feel the difference in chakra, she wasn't yet fully aware of the levels, but it was still good. It was one more step on the long road of being a proper sensor, a road where she could one day be even better than the legendary sensors of the Hyūga clan.
"You have done well, Karin," I praised her.
She puffed out her chest proudly, her earlier exhaustion forgotten. "I told you I was good," she said, her voice filled with a childish pride.
I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction, but I knew this was the right way to go, I would have to slowly and carefully guide her to be a proper shinobi, one that could help and support in achieving my final goals.
"Now, you rember what our target was, right?" I asked her, even as Kakuzu entered the tavern up ahead. "The poster said he was a ninjutsu specialist."
"I rember," Karin said, her expression turning serious.
"Then do you think the person has enough chakra to be a jōnin-level ninjutsu specialist?" I asked.
She thought about it for a mont, her brow furrowed in concentration. "No... he doesn't. He has more chakra than a normal person, but not enough for that," she said.
"Good, that ans that he isn't the one we are after," I said, as I walked towards the tavern. "The target must be soone else, or perhaps he is suppressing his chakra? Either way, it pays to be careful."
Kakuzu, who had already entered the tavern, seed to have co to the sa conclusion, albeit through a much more direct thod. A loud crash echoed from the building, followed by the sound of breaking glass and a panicked scream.
"He died," Karin said, as the chakra signature she was tracking was snuffed out. "The person in there, he's dead."
We didn't even need to go in to see what had happened, as Kakuzu walked out of the tavern, a grumpy expression on his face. "Wrong one," he grumbled. "Just so random bounty hunter with a big mouth."
"A mistake we all make from ti to ti," I said calmly, not at all surprised by this. It was the most common outco for a bounty hunter, they tried to be soone they weren't, and ended up getting themselves killed.
It was a good lesson for Karin to witness.
"He wasn't our target?" Karin asked, a little confused. "But he was the strongest one here."
I shook my head. "I am the strongest one here," I reminded her and ruffled her hair.
"Hey, stop that, I'm not a child anymore!" she protested, trying to push my hand away.
"Then stop acting like one," I said with a smile.
"So what do we do now?" Karin asked, her earlier confidence replaced by a newfound seriousness.
"Now, we do what any good shinobi does when their initial lead turns out to be a dead end," I said, my tone shifting from playful to instructional. "We investigate. We gather intelligence. We don't just rely on our senses; we use our minds."
"Oh, don't give that. This is a huge waste of ti. Just fucking tell us where he is. You clearly knew he was the wrong target from the beginning," Kakuzu said, storming up to us. He had clearly realized that my calmness wasn't not knowing, but simply letting Karin learn.
My response was sending a bone spike flying in his direction, one he dodged quickly and easily with a shift of his head. "Don't give orders, Kakuzu, you are not my superior!" I said coldly, my smile gone.
His eyes were far from friendly, the threads under his skin tightened like coils and springs, all ready to go off. For a second, I thought he might just try to attack , but he didn't, in the end, he knew a fight with wouldn't be easy, and would get him nothing. And even if he won, Pain wouldn't let him get away with it. "Tch," he turned away. "But don't waste my ti like this again."
Ignoring him, I turned my attention back to Karin. "There are many ways to find a person, Karin. So are loud and ssy, like our partner here prefers. Others are quiet and subtle. Let's try the latter," I said, my gaze sweeping across the town square. "The target is a Kiri nin. And a ninjutsu user, and what type of ninjutsu do they use the most?" I asked her.
"Water Release," she answered, her brow furrowed in thought.
"Correct," I said with a nod. "And while you can use Water Release without water nearby, it takes a lot more chakra than normal, so most people don't do that, so can't even do it, which ans what?" I asked.
"That he must be near a large source of water?" she guessed, and it was a good guess.
"It does, but that still leaves us a lot of ground to cover, the entire land has water after all. So what else? If we can't use what he has, we can use what he needs. What does a ninjutsu user need to do, especially one trying to hide from enemies?" I asked.
"He needs to train... practice... to keep his skills sharp," she said slowly, the light of understanding dawning in her eyes. "And he needs supplies, he still needs to eat, so it can't be away from civilization, at least not too far. But that's not a lot to go on."
"You're right, but we aren't done yet, think about this, why would a missing-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist be in a place like this? What would make a place like this a good place to hide?" I said, pointing at the few people around us.
They all looked like they'd rather be anywhere else. So were carrying water buckets, others were nding nets. This was a fishing village. They lived off the water, they respected it, but they also feared it, the storms that could ruin them in a single day.
"The ocean..." she whispered. "He could use the water from the ocean to fight with."
"Exactly," I said. "He's a water user. Hiding in a fishing village by the sea is like a fire user hiding near a volcano. He has an almost limitless supply of his primary elent. He can use powerful jutsu without draining his chakra reserves."
As I slowly walked Karin through the process of finding a target, Kakuzu, who was far more experienced than her, was able to see where I was going, pick up on countless tracks, and put two and two together to get five.
And once he did, he couldn't help but curse loudly. "Damn it, you knew all along, and said nothing!" He angrily accused . "I have wasted hours in this dump because of you!" he roared, the threads on his face twitching.
"Did you?" I asked, unfazed by his anger. "Or did you learn that maybe now that you have a real sensor with you, you should let lead the way?" I asked him.
"I..." he wanted to say sothing, but he didn't, he couldn't, because the facts were against him. He had been so focused on the bounty that he had rushed in, and it had cost him valuable ti.
In the end, he just snorted and disappeared, body flickering away, back the way we ca. Because, yes, we had already passed our target, running right past them, without even knowing, well, I knew all along, but why would I say anything when not asked?
Hopefully, this would teach Kakuzu to be more of a team player from now on.
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